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KELEKE, Turkey – A group of Kurdish seasonal workers say they were insulted and beaten by a Turkish landowner who had hired them to harvest hazelnuts.
Sixteen women from Keleke village in Turkey’s eastern province of Mardin traveled some 950 kilometres west to Sakayra to pick hazelnuts. After about two weeks on the job, the women said they were insulted by the landowner and asked to leave. They say they were then attacked by the farmer and his sons.
In video of the purported incident, women could be heard screaming as they are hit by several men. Rudaw cannot independently verify the footage, but spoke with the women on their return to Mardin.
“He slapped me on the face, on the side and on my neck. It was very painful. He was bigger and heavier than me. I fell down. They put us in a room and shut the door,” said Shilan Demir, a migrant worker. She said she doesn’t know how she survived the attack.
“They had a scythe and axe with them and were saying they would kill my brother,” recounted Khedar Demir, another of the women.
The women said their attackers threatened to call in Turkish soldiers, saying that even if all Kurds got together, they would not be able to do anything.
“We don’t want to be insulted. Even the dogs and cats are more valued than us,” said Songul Demir, mother of one of the workers.
The Kurdish minority is marginalized in Turkey. Kurdish cultural events and language are subject to restrictions and Kurdish journalists have reported threats from the state. Many Kurds, particularly those in the west of the country, may be reluctant to reveal their ethnicity for fear it would hinder their employment, or even spark a violent response.
Kurds are often employed in lower paid work, including as seasonal farm hands. Every year, thousands of Kurds travel to Turkey’s Black Sea provinces to harvest hazelnuts, part of some 800,000 seasonal workers Turkish farmers depend on to harvest their crops.
Turkey’s agriculture sector is worth over $48 billion and the country is a top exporter of crops like hazelnuts, figs, olives, and tea.
Many households that depend on seasonal agricultural work are “stuck in a circle of poverty,” according to a UNICEF-funded 2019 report by non-profit cooperative Development Workshop.
Reporting by Mashalla Dekak
Translation by Sarkawt Mohammed
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